Koch, Boehm Take Race 1 Win; Anderson Clinches Silver Title

Photo: Brian Cleary/SRO

Random Vandals Racing’s Kenton Koch and Kevin Boehm took victory in Friday’s opening Pirelli GT4 America round at Indianapolis Motor Speedway after issues for the then-leading No. 34 Conquest Racing/JMF Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Michai Stephens.

Stephens, who along with co-driver Jesse Webb led the opening 56 minutes of the 60-minute contest, slowed with an issue for their Mercedes-AMG from the lead.

While it handed the win to the No. 92 BMW M4 GT4 of Koch and Boehm, Auto Technic Racing’s Zac Anderson clinched the Silver class title with a third place class finish and sixth place overall result.

Pro-Am class honors went to the No. 24 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 of Gray Newell and Roman De Angelis, who made an impressive charge to take third overall at the time and end up second after the retirement for the Conquest/JMF car.

De Angelis passed the No. 47 Nolasport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport of Jason Hart for the class lead with 20 minutes to go in a race that saw Hart and co-driver Matt Travis’ championship rival retire early in the race.

The No. 82 BimmerWorld BMW of James Walker Jr., which entered the weekend with a sizable points lead, had contact with another car that spun him off into the grass, resulting in the race’s only full-course caution.

With their second place class finish on Friday, Hart and Travis significantly reduced their deficit to the BimmerWorld duo heading into Sunday’s title decider.

The No. 19 ACI Motorsports Porsche of Andrew Davis finished fourth, with the No. 8 Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin of Andy Lee completing the overall top-five.

The Heart of Racing scored a double victory on Friday, with the all-female pairing of Rianna O’Meara-Hunt and Hannah Grisham breaking through for their first series win in the Am class with a ninth place overall finish.

The final race of the season gets underway Sunday at 10:35 a.m. EDT with live coverage on SRO’s GT World YouTube page.

RESULTS: Race 1

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John